Theurgy
Theurgy is religious magic. One of the greatest boons of the Benefactors, the loving gods of the Tanelim, is the bestowal of Theurgic Rites, which serve to heal, empower, build, and reveal. It is through the words of Revelations from their gods that the Tanelim enact Theurgy. and each set of words has a different array of effects. In order to unlock the magic in the words, sections of them must be memorised and repeated, rote, by a priest. It is the process of memorisation that infuses the priest's mind with the words' power. Forgetting them, or tripping over ones words, is a demonstration of insufficient commitment, and often causes the magic to fail.
The outcomes of Theurgy are strongly dependent on the nature of the bestowing benefactor. They often revolve around protection, healing, and creation, and particularly in resisting the foul magics of the Nightmare spellcasters.
Any character with the Rites of the Priest skill can participate in a Theurgic ritual. This skill may only be purchased by Tanelim characters. A Theurgic ritual requires the following elements.
1. THE WORDS OF A REVELATION
Any Priest can, using a special religious blindfold acquired from the refs, place another character into a meditative state in which they hear words from one of the Tanelim's deities; the Benefactors. This is known as a Revelation, and the words themselves contain power that can be used to fuel a ritual. As such, it is advised that the subject of the Revelation speaks the words they hear out loud and somebody diligent copies them down.
Each Revelation can empower four different unique Rites, depending on the magical resource used, the nature of which is not known prior to casting, but which is strongly hinted at in the wording.
Only words from a Revelation done at the current event may be used. Revelations from previous events have lost their power.
2. RESOURCES
Each ritual costs exactly four pieces of any one magical resource to cast. Mixing different resources causes the ritual to fail. The caster can choose which resource to use. The resource used in a ritual changes the outcome, essentially meaning that each Revelation text has four associated ritual outcomes.
3. THE PROCLAMATION
To enact a Theurgic ritual, a Priest must make a Proclamation; an act of preaching lasting at least two minutes, with a moral lesson inspired by a recent Revelation. As part of this Proclamation, the Priest must include, clearly verbally signposted, three lines of the associated Revelation in the presence of a ref. The Priest must have memorised this wording, and may not use any prompts or memory aides. Doing so will cause the ritual to fail, and will be considered an instance of OC cheating. One line can have mistakes, but if mistakes are present in two or more lines otherwise the Proclamation must be word perfect or the ritual will fail.
A character with Rites of the Cardinal can make an Immaculate Proclamation once per event, in which they do not have to use lines from a Revelation, merely indicating to the ref which Revelation they are invoking. They may use lines from a different Revelation, or otherwise mislead other PCs regarding which Revelation they are invoking.
EXAMPLE
Some months before the first event, the following Revelation was heard, and cast with all four kinds of resources.
“I am Izarel,
One world strains against another. Those who are bound dream of escape, but their minds are not up to the task.
Souls are made weaker, a poison drips into the wound.
Betrayal. Disaster.
The injured party dreams of a reckoning, but they need people to help them.
It began with a dream. It ends upon the blood-soaked earth.
Do not forget what binds you. Remember that a dream can become a cage.
Remember that this story has been told twice before. It will be told again.”
The consequence of reciting this Revelation using six pieces of Crowngold was that the caster could confer on four targets the ability to call Silence by weapon 1/5min, for 12 hours.
Using Heartsteel, the caster could confer on one target the ability to call Gank and Venom once per five minutes, and grant them +1 global hit, for 12 hours.
Using Glowroot, the caster gained two uses of Immaculate performance, for 12 hours.
Using Mirrorfrost, the caster could ask one question about the contents of the Revelation and receive a short, true answer.
UPTIME OPPORTUNITIES
Characters with Rites of the Priest may, once per event, perform a petitionary prayer. This allows them to ask the Benefactors for Revelations providing guidance on particular topics, or with certain magical effects that are needed by the Tanelim. Benefactors do listen to these prayers, and often try to satisfy them, but often do so in ways priests do not anticipate.
The outcomes of Theurgy are strongly dependent on the nature of the bestowing benefactor. They often revolve around protection, healing, and creation, and particularly in resisting the foul magics of the Nightmare spellcasters.
Any character with the Rites of the Priest skill can participate in a Theurgic ritual. This skill may only be purchased by Tanelim characters. A Theurgic ritual requires the following elements.
- The Words of a Revelation; three lines of precise wording of a Revelation heard previously in the same event.
- Resources; four pieces of Glowroot, Mirrorfrost, Crowngold, and/or Heartsteel.
- The Proclamation; a preaching performance, with three lines of the Revelation, must be publicly made by the Priest, with no prompting or memory aides.
1. THE WORDS OF A REVELATION
Any Priest can, using a special religious blindfold acquired from the refs, place another character into a meditative state in which they hear words from one of the Tanelim's deities; the Benefactors. This is known as a Revelation, and the words themselves contain power that can be used to fuel a ritual. As such, it is advised that the subject of the Revelation speaks the words they hear out loud and somebody diligent copies them down.
Each Revelation can empower four different unique Rites, depending on the magical resource used, the nature of which is not known prior to casting, but which is strongly hinted at in the wording.
Only words from a Revelation done at the current event may be used. Revelations from previous events have lost their power.
2. RESOURCES
Each ritual costs exactly four pieces of any one magical resource to cast. Mixing different resources causes the ritual to fail. The caster can choose which resource to use. The resource used in a ritual changes the outcome, essentially meaning that each Revelation text has four associated ritual outcomes.
3. THE PROCLAMATION
To enact a Theurgic ritual, a Priest must make a Proclamation; an act of preaching lasting at least two minutes, with a moral lesson inspired by a recent Revelation. As part of this Proclamation, the Priest must include, clearly verbally signposted, three lines of the associated Revelation in the presence of a ref. The Priest must have memorised this wording, and may not use any prompts or memory aides. Doing so will cause the ritual to fail, and will be considered an instance of OC cheating. One line can have mistakes, but if mistakes are present in two or more lines otherwise the Proclamation must be word perfect or the ritual will fail.
A character with Rites of the Cardinal can make an Immaculate Proclamation once per event, in which they do not have to use lines from a Revelation, merely indicating to the ref which Revelation they are invoking. They may use lines from a different Revelation, or otherwise mislead other PCs regarding which Revelation they are invoking.
EXAMPLE
Some months before the first event, the following Revelation was heard, and cast with all four kinds of resources.
“I am Izarel,
One world strains against another. Those who are bound dream of escape, but their minds are not up to the task.
Souls are made weaker, a poison drips into the wound.
Betrayal. Disaster.
The injured party dreams of a reckoning, but they need people to help them.
It began with a dream. It ends upon the blood-soaked earth.
Do not forget what binds you. Remember that a dream can become a cage.
Remember that this story has been told twice before. It will be told again.”
The consequence of reciting this Revelation using six pieces of Crowngold was that the caster could confer on four targets the ability to call Silence by weapon 1/5min, for 12 hours.
Using Heartsteel, the caster could confer on one target the ability to call Gank and Venom once per five minutes, and grant them +1 global hit, for 12 hours.
Using Glowroot, the caster gained two uses of Immaculate performance, for 12 hours.
Using Mirrorfrost, the caster could ask one question about the contents of the Revelation and receive a short, true answer.
UPTIME OPPORTUNITIES
Characters with Rites of the Priest may, once per event, perform a petitionary prayer. This allows them to ask the Benefactors for Revelations providing guidance on particular topics, or with certain magical effects that are needed by the Tanelim. Benefactors do listen to these prayers, and often try to satisfy them, but often do so in ways priests do not anticipate.